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ICE Agent's Cell Phone Captures Deadly Shooting; Unrest in Iran; Trump Touts "Deal" but Execs Cool to Investing in Venezuela; U.S. Diplomats Visit Venezuela to Assess Reopening Embassy; Colombian Police Unit Destroys Drug Labs; Russia Strikes Ukraine with Oreshnik Ballistic Missile; Sudan Civil War; Switzerland Holds National Day of Mourning; 2025 Worst Year of Job Growth for U.S.; Sports Highlights. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired January 10, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Protesters gather in Minneapolis as new video reveals the moments that led up to a deadly shooting. What the new footage adds to the ongoing investigation.
Demonstrators in Iran face internet blackouts and threats as the government tries to quell the calls for regime change. We'll look at the political fallout.
Plus, mixed messages coming out of the Trump administration's meeting with oil executives. Why the president's plans for Venezuela might not play out the way that he envisions.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: Welcome.
We're expecting to see more than 1,000 protests against ICE across the U.S. this weekend after two separate shootings involving federal agents. Demonstrations in Minneapolis entered the third straight night. Protesters there are calling for justice for 37-year-old mother, Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent.
Police declared an unlawful assembly and made arrests late on Friday. The move came after it appeared that some protesters had breached the doors of a hotel, which they believe is housing federal agents. All of this comes as newly released video taken by the ICE agent with his own cell phone shows a pivotal moment surrounding the shooting.
Quick warning: some of this content is graphic. CNN's Leigh Waldman has more for us.
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LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's more than 48 hours now since Renee Good, which lost her life here, was killed here in their community, is still gathering, laying flowers, candles, doing shared grief here.
What's been so heartwarming to see is people handing out hot coffees and teas, handing out homemade food, gathering together to try and piece together what they're feeling but also making their demands very clear. They do not want ICE in this community.
WALDMAN (voice-over): A moment of silence and a declared day of unity days after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an ICE agent while in the driver's seat of her car. And now, newly obtained video from ICE agent Jonathan Ross' cell phone camera shows the moments leading up to when he fatally shot Good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
BECCA GOOD, RENEE'S WIFE: Show your face.
WALDMAN (voice-over): As Ross walks around the SUV, the victim's wife, Becca Good, confronts him while holding a cell phone. Ross doesn't say anything as he walks across the front of the car toward the driver's side of the car. Then another officer can be heard ordering Good to get out of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car.
WALDMAN (voice-over): That's when she turns the steering wheel to the right, away from where Ross is standing, and pulls forward. Three gunshots are heard, though the shooting isn't seen on video.
Vice president JD Vance says the video proves that Ross' life was in danger and he fired the gun in self-defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALDMAN (voice-over): The Minneapolis mayor renewing his call for local involvement in the deadly shooting investigation.
MAYOR JACOB FREY (D-MN), MINNEAPOLIS: Include local experts in the process. We got nothing to hide from here. All we want in Minneapolis is justice and the truth. WALDMAN: The local attorney general here in this community is asking
anyone to submit their videos, their photos, so that they can piece together exactly what led up to this fatal shooting.
All the while, we're hearing from Renee's partner, her wife, Becca. Becca is saying that her wife sparkled from the inside and now she's striving to raise their children how Renee lived, loving the people she didn't know, who didn't look like her, who were not from her community. That's the legacy she is passing on to their children.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: As we reported, state and local officials in Minnesota are urging the federal government to let them in on the investigation. But president Trump is pushing back.
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QUESTION: Do you believe that the FBI should be sharing evidence with state officials in Minnesota?
TRUMP: Well, normally I would but they're crooked officials. I mean, Minneapolis and Minnesota, what a beautiful place. But it's being destroyed. It's got an incompetent governor, a fool (ph). I mean, he's a stupid person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Democrats are reacting to the videos of the ICE confrontation and shooting of Renee Good.
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They dispute all of president Trump's claims, including that she ran over the ICE agent. Have a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see from this video that it is a lie to say that the officer was run over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can all see that video and come to our own conclusions that that ICE agent murdered a woman in Minneapolis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is clear from the video that was put out that Ms. Good was driving away. The fact that there's not going to be an independent investigation should alarm every single American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Oregon state authorities and the FBI are investigating the Border Patrol shooting that wounded two people in Portland, Oregon. The Portland police chief says the man and woman are in a stable condition and recovering and remain in federal custody.
Federal officials say they're thought to be linked to a notorious Venezuelan gang. The shooting happened on Thursday during a targeted vehicle stop. The assistant secretary of Homeland Security says the driver tried to run over a Border Patrol agent and the agent opened fire in self-defense.
The incident has renewed questions about the Trump administration's handling of its immigration crackdown in American cities.
A week after arresting the Venezuelan president, the U.S. sends its diplomats to the South American country. When we come back, the shaky effort for friendlier relations.
And as the U.S. teams up with Colombia to combat drug trafficking, CNN's David Culver gets a closer look on how police forces are tackling narcotics in Latin America. That's ahead. See you in a moment.
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HUNTE: Welcome back. Iran is in a near-total internet blackout amid widespread anti-government protests.
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Authorities cut off communication more than 36 hours ago, raising fears of a brutal crackdown to suppress dissent. The demonstrations have raged for nearly two weeks in more than 100 cities.
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HUNTE (voice-over): You are seeing footage now from the capital, Tehran, where some protesters chanted, "long live the shah." They called for an end to the Islamic Republic and the return of the shah's exiled son.
Meanwhile, U.S. president Donald Trump issued another stark warning, threatening to hit Iran, quote, "where it hurts" if it uses violence against protesters. Iran's supreme leader has said Trump should focus on, quote, "his own country."
For more on what's taking place across Iran, I want to bring in our Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi.
Paula, thanks for joining me again. President Trump is weighing in on the protests with a pretty strong warning to Iran's leaders there.
What does that tell us about how the White House is viewing this moment?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ben, it tells us the White House is watching what's happening in Iran very closely. It's not just the U.S. president; also the secretary of state, others within the Trump administration who are commenting on this. Marco Rubio, secretary of state, saying that that they stand with the
protesters. And we have heard some fairly strong words from the U.S. president, saying that the U.S. would step in if peaceful protesters were killed. Let's listen to what he has said just recently.
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TRUMP: I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that's a very dangerous place right now. And again, I tell the Iranian leaders, you better not start shooting because we'll start shooting, too.
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HANCOCKS: Now we know that there have been dozens of people killed at this point. The figures we have are from the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO, they say at least 45 killed, eight children among that number, and hundreds are injured, they say, along with about 2,000 or more that have been arrested.
Now CNN cannot independently verify these numbers but this is similar to what we are hearing from a number of rights groups inside the country. It does appear as though the protests have momentum, the fact that they are being held in every single province across Iran at this point.
We've heard authorities say that they have sympathy for the economic concerns, which is what sparked these protests almost two weeks ago now. But they are criticizing what they call rioters and foreign mercenaries, claiming that they are causing trouble.
But what we are seeing on the ground are these increased calls, not just for economic justice, for better management of the country's economy, but also calling for regime change, calling chants like "death to the dictator," wanting this Islamic regime to collapse.
And we're also hearing those calls from outside of the country as well. Reza Pahlavi, for example, he is the eldest son of the late shah, who was deposed back in 1979 when the Islamic Revolution took place. He is making very direct calls for nationwide action. Let's listen.
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REZA PAHLAVI, ELDEST SON OF SHAH MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLAVI (through translator): And I ask all of you today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, this time starting at 6 pm, to come into the streets with flags, images and national symbols and to reclaim public spaces as your own.
Our goal is no longer merely to come out into the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize city centers and hold them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: Now we have heard among some protests, through images that have been posted on social media, chants that are pro-monarchy.
But it is very difficult to gauge exactly what support Pahlavi, for example, does have still within Iran and whether or not this is just a pocket or whether there are more that that would want to see a return to the monarchy.
Now we have also been seeing small pockets of pro-regime protests as well, a number of pro-government demonstrations that are being broadcast on Iranian state television, press TV, for example.
But it will be obviously very closely watched by those around the world in the coming days and how these protests escalate, especially given there is that internet blackout in the country that that started on Thursday night by authorities.
There are great concerns that this could mean that that a crackdown by authorities on these protesters could become more brutal. Ben.
HUNTE: OK. Thank you so much for your reporting. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi there.
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Donald Trump emerged from a White House meeting with oil company executives, apparently short of a deal, to invest billions of dollars in Venezuela's oil industry.
Although the president has said a deal had "sort of" been formed, his Energy Secretary said the executives showed tremendous interest but made no firm commitments. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump sat down with executives from major oil companies today to try and convince them to reinvest in Venezuela.
This is all part of the United States larger plan to rebuild Venezuela and its oil infrastructure. He said that they were going to invest $100 billion. But those oil executives seemed rather skeptical.
In fact, the head of Exxon who was there said that Venezuela in the current state is uninvestable. Now afterwards we heard from both President Trump and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on that meeting. Here's what they said.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We just had a great meeting with the oil executive. We formed a deal. They're going to be going in with hundreds of billions of in drilling oil.
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: Tremendous interest. Remember the United States moves in Venezuela were less than a week ago.
HOLMES: So on the one hand you have President Trump saying they made a deal and this idea of $100 billion or hundreds of billions of invested into the Venezuelan oil infrastructure. But when I talked to Secretary Wright, he was not as definitive. He said essentially that there had not been commitments but that there was tremendous interest, saying that the capture of Maduro had just happened less than a week ago.
But we talked to these oil executives before the meeting. They said the United States was going to have major concessions and make major agreements, particularly when it came to things like security and lifting sanctions. That it was unclear the United States would be able to do for them to actually want to reinvest in Venezuela.
A quick note, some of these companies still say the country of Venezuela owes them billions of from when they were forced to leave the country about two decades ago. Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
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HUNTE: The U.S. military seized another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, according to U.S. Southern Command. It is unclear where the tanker is registered but it was listed as sailing near Venezuela under a Timor-Leste flag, as well as an unknown flag.
Called the Olina, it was also included under sanctions linked to the Ukraine-Russia war. The U.S. has seized at least five tankers since the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on sanctioned vessels.
On the diplomatic front, a team from the U.S. State Department is in Venezuela right now for the first time since president Nicolas Maduro was ousted. The visit comes as the U.S. looks to reopen its embassy in Caracas.
The outreach is said to show the Trump administration's desire to reestablish a diplomatic presence in the country, that Trump maintains that the U.S. is going to run. Trump told reporters that he would likely meet representatives of the country soon.
He also praised interim president Delcy Rodriguez for her cooperation so far, saying she seems to be an ally, quote, "right now."
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QUESTION: I'm curious in terms of the future of Venezuela, do you see Venezuela, now led by Delcy Rodriguez, as an ally of the U.S.?
Is that the way that you view that country?
TRUMP: Well, right now, they seem to be an ally and I think will continue to be an ally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Rodriguez is walking a delicate balance, trying to appease both the Trump administration, along with leaders in both the country and region. On Friday, she acknowledged the possibility of the U.S. and Venezuela reopening diplomatic channels.
But in a statement that same day, she described, quote, "serious criminal, illegal and illegitimate aggression by the U.S."
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DELCY RODRIGUEZ, INTERIM PRESIDENT, VENEZUELA (through translator): I said it yesterday, the Venezuelan people don't deserve this treatment. They don't deserve this aggression from a nuclear power.
But our response will be in the diplomatic arena. And I said it, we're going to meet face to face in diplomacy and we'll go with our Bolivarian diplomacy of peace to defend Venezuela's peace, Venezuela's stability, the future, to defend our independence and to defend our sacred and inalienable sovereignty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Well, earlier, our Polo Sandoval spoke to Brian Naranjo. He's a retired U.S. diplomat previously assigned to the embassy in Caracas before it closed in 2019. He asked him about the significance of this visit and if he sees it as a chance to help the fraught relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela.
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BRIAN NARANJO, RETIRED U.S. DIPLOMAT: Across my 30-year, 30-plus years in the foreign service, I've always believed that diplomacy is a contact sport. And I've served in Venezuela.
You cannot do the job the same way if you're not present. OK. So I'm really elated to see that we've gotten back into to Venezuela. John McNamara is on the ground there. He's a close friend and colleague of mine. He's a superb diplomat.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In order to reestablish a diplomatic presence in Venezuela, in this case a full embassy, I mean, what absolutely needs to happen?
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And where do you anticipate some possible disagreements or perhaps friction between the U.S. and Venezuela?
NARANJO: Look, the relationship is a fraught relationship. And it's been like that for some time. That is not going to go away overnight. OK. It's clearly a positive sign that the United States has been asked to come back and reopen its embassy. OK.
But it will not be smooth sailing right from the get-go. All right. I think the first thing that's going to happen here is you're going to have to get a charge d'affaires in place. You're going to get a small political team, security people and gradually they're going to grow out that mission.
Now we're fortunate in that we own the property of the embassy that is in Caracas and it hasn't been abandoned. We've had local employees working there since the diplomatic staff was withdrawn in early 2019. So there is a base to build from there. OK.
The United States has maintained extensive contacts, albeit at a distance. The big advantage right now is that, instead of having to look at Venezuela down the straw, through shower glass from Bogota, you're right on the ground there in Caracas. And you can talk to people and you can meet with them.
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HUNTE: President Trump invited Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, to visit the White House sometime in the near future. The two have recently clashed on a variety of issues, including drug trafficking and the U.S. ousting of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.
However, Colombia still remains one of the United States' closest allies at combating narcotics in the region. CNN's David Culver has an exclusive look for us at how the Latin American country is tackling drug trafficking.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What you're looking at here might look like military special forces but these are Colombia's National Police, anti-narcotics officers.
And they're prepping for a jungle mission near the country's southern border. This operation comes at a moment of regional tension.
You can almost feel it at times, with uncertainty in neighboring Venezuela spilling over after the U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro. And as President Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro are increasingly trading sharp words with one another. Some are asking just how serious is Washington about confronting Colombia next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the air, the scale is overwhelming, vast stretches of coca the wrong greeting for cocaine spread across the jungle below us. So why don't they just eradicate it all?
CULVER: He points out, all of these plots of coca are protected by armed groups.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which is why police say they focus on sites they believe will have the biggest impact on disrupting drug production and trafficking.
CULVER: All of this is coca, he points out and all of this the officers say, is on unclaimed jungle land. This essentially is a kitchen or laboratory where they do the first step of producing cocaine from the coca plant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As police secure the area, locals begin to gather. Some out of curiosity. Others, police say, may work these fields for criminal organizations. CULVER: I mean there's a few people who are standing around us. They then go through the process of determining what if any involvement they might have had with this and then we'll process accordingly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers quickly set the lab on fire to keep it from being used again.
CULVER: And police stress to us that none of this would be possible without the support of the U.S. from training to technology to equipment and most importantly, intel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That cooperation is something police bring up repeatedly and it's something we ask about directly.
CULVER: Between the FBI, DEA, are you still working together?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The General tells us support from the U.S. has not changed and he describes the relationship with U.S. law enforcement as the best it's ever been, helping drive what police describe as historic drug seizures in 2025. He warns that without that partnership, criminal organizations would win.
We see just how vital that U.S. investment is at a training base outside of Bogota.
CULVER: All the weapons he points out are from the USA. The gear they wear, the buildings that house them here, nearly all of it, they say, made or paid for by the USA.
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Back on the mission. It's time to go. We're rushed on to the Black Hawk, part of the anti-narcotics police fleet. They say they have more than two dozen of them, all provided by the United States. As we pull out smoke rises from the jungle below, one of several cocaine labs police say they destroyed on this deployment.
They're all now returning after what was for them a successful mission. And they reiterate to us over and over, the decades of cooperation with U.S. law enforcement remains essential for them to stop drugs leaving Colombia and entering places like the U.S. and beyond.
Even if politics at the very top are telling a different story on the ground, they stress the relationship for now, at least is strong.
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HUNTE: President Trump is doubling down on his threats toward Greenland. He told reporters on Friday if he couldn't manage to make a deal to acquire the Arctic territory, that he'd forcibly take it. Diplomats for Greenland and Denmark met with White House officials on Thursday, insisting that Greenland is not for sale.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. OK.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I would -- I would like to make a deal. You know, the easy way. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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RASMUS JARLOV, CHAIRMAN, DANISH PARLIAMENT DEFENCE COMMITTEE: It would be the biggest self-inflicted wound to the Western world in history. So I mean, I hope not.
But I mean, you have American officials, they're asked every week, are you going to invade Greenland?
And they refuse to say that it's off the table. So we can't rule it out. When the Americans are not ruling it out, we can't rule it out, either. But we don't think it's the most likely scenario because it's just simply too stupid. It would be such a disaster, so absurd that it's -- we still think that's, yes, unthinkable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: OK. Russia launched a barrage of weapons against Ukraine, including one of its most advanced. We'll go live to Kyiv for the latest.
And later, the leader of the Catholic Church says he's worried. Pope Leo is warning about escalating tensions all around the world. And his message to leaders gathered at the Vatican. See you in a moment.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. Let's check some of today's top stories.
Iran is in a near total communications blackout as a wave of nationwide unrest continues. Demonstrations started nearly two weeks ago over the failing economy there.
Supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei accuses protesters of trying to please U.S. president Donald Trump, who has threatened to intervene if Iranian security forces kill protesters. Police in Minneapolis declared an unlawful assembly after the third
straight night of protests against ICE. This all comes after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother. The crowd began to thin as officers showed up and started making arrests.
State authorities and the FBI in Portland, Oregon, are investigating the Border Patrol shooting against two people in a vehicle. The man and woman were wounded and they are recovering in federal custody. Officials say the driver tried to run over an agent during a targeted stop.
HUNTE: Ukraine now, its allies are sounding a warning over Russia's recent use of a certain weapon. For only the second time in its war, Russia has unleashed one of its Oreshnik missiles. It can rain down multiple separate warheads from the main missile as it travels at hypersonic speeds.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that this poses a challenge to countries such as Poland, Romania and Hungary, given how far west it struck.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Everyone should understand the same thing and take it equally seriously. If the Russians don't even try to come up with a plausible reason for using such weapons, then personal connections or any rhetoric won't get you away from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Well, the European Union's foreign policy chief is calling it a warning not just to Europe but to the U.S. as well.
Meanwhile, Russian forces launched hundreds of weapons that Mr. Zelenskyy said targeted energy facilities and civilian infrastructure in multiple regions. More than half a million households are without power in the Kyiv region.
Nataliya Gumenyuk is a Ukrainian journalist and the CEO of Public Interest Journalism Lab. She's joining us from Kyiv.
We do really appreciate you being with us and I'll just get straight to it. We've heard of massive Russian strikes on Kyiv, leaving residents without power, without heat, in freezing winter conditions.
How are people coping right now?
NATALIYA GUMENYUK, UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST; CEO, PUBLIC INTEREST JOURNALISM LAB: So first of all, indeed, it's -- I would call it even sadistic because the reason why those strikes were there because, for the last four years, it was one of the coldest moments in winter with a storm.
And the Russians who are targeting the critical infrastructure and the power grid systematically, we're actually waiting for the moment when the damage and the suffering they may cause would be the highest.
My house is just, you know, three miles away from the local power, thermal power plant, which was badly damaged and one-third miles away, there was a house which was a tall apartment building, which was hit the night before.
So you know, I may say that as many people, we are (INAUDIBLE) in epicenter but we should give a credit to the -- still, to the, you know, local, electricity workers because, by the evening, the water was back, at least in my area. And the electricity is now back.
Of course, there are power cuts. There are some of the blackouts and there are hundreds of -- and in my case, dozens of people who offered to find the asylum in a different area of the city.
We have the really bad conditions in other towns, as Dnipro in southern Ukraine, which are less into the international news. But it was exactly the aim of the Russians.
But miraculously, I should say, the Ukrainian workers managed somehow to make those break without the water and without the energy temporary. So there is an opportunity to, you know, use the power banks, to get some energy temporary to preserve it.
[05:35:05]
And disperse it within the population so everybody has its own chunk of the time when you can do what you need to do.
HUNTE: And just as you were speaking there, we were seeing videos from Ukraine and it just looks absolutely awful. We know that Kyiv's mayor has urged some people to leave the capital, given the intensity of the attacks, as we've just seen.
Are residents following that advice, though?
Or are they all staying put?
GUMENYUK: So there is a huge criticism of Kyiv mayor for saying that, mainly because, you know, it's four years since Russia is trying to destroy the power grid. The defense is mainly in the air defense, you know.
So it's not that city can buy the generators. But still, there are a lot of opportunities to make the suffering easier with the basement, with this hotspots, you know, where people can come.
So not everybody can go. And somehow it didn't sound proper. It's probably a warning because there would be still a week of the bad weather and the attack would continue. So it's indeed a critical moment.
And those who have small kids or some other, you know, conditions and who have an opportunity, maybe it's good to go elsewhere, probably within the country. But it's not about the massive exodus of the, you know, 4 millions of people who live in Kyiv. HUNTE: There has been so much talk about the efforts to reach a
ceasefire and we've seen some unusual optimism. It seems like president Zelenskyy isn't ruling out territorial concessions anymore. But I just want your thoughts on whether you think Ukrainians are also willing to reconsider on that.
GUMENYUK: So there was a bit of -- not like the optimism but some kind of the prospect.
But after the Kremlin announced this kind of fabricated explanation about a possible attack on Putin's residency, which didn't happen and wasn't confirmed, it kind of became even more clear that there is no sign from Russia that they are ready for any ceasefire.
And especially in the moment when there are the deadliest and most, you know, the strongest attacks on Ukraine, it's not a sign of peace. So there are less discussion and it doesn't look feasible.
But also on the territorial concession, still, the idea is that it probably would be a kind of a freeze if something will be there without really, you know, putting on paper what territories are given or not. That is definitely against constitution.
And just shortly to remind, you know, those territories are not far away. A person who died in Kyiv last night was the ambulance worker who moved from occupied Kakhovka. He was a doctor. It was a double tap.
The second attack on the doctors and on the ambulance, you know. And the guys from the territory which is occupied. So those people are here. It's us. It's not some other people which live somewhere far away. So it's more -- not just emotional but it's something very close and real than some other faraway territories to give away.
HUNTE: And it's very real. As I said, just looking at these images that were seeing, it's awful.
I just wanted to ask, how are Ukrainian journalists and local media navigating reporting under the constant threat?
And what challenges are you facing while trying to keep the world informed?
GUMENYUK: But in this particular case, it's just the accident you answered. You know, the strike I was referred is three miles -- less than 30 miles -- less than 300 -- one-third of a mile from my house.
And there is the editor, photo editor, which I know lives there. And the photographer, whose house was more or less the next before hitting. And when I was communicating with them at night, they were going to the assignment. That's probably, I would say, how we are.
HUNTE: It's absolutely awful. But thank you so much for your reporting. Nataliya Gumenyuk in Kyiv. Thank you. And please do take care. Speak to you soon.
GUMENYUK: Thank you.
HUNTE: OK. Keep on going.
The civil war in Sudan has reached the grim milestone of 1,000 days. United Nations aid officials are warning about what they call the staggering scale of civilian suffering. Estimates suggest the conflict has killed more than 150,000 people.
A spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that nearly 34 million people need support. He said fierce fighting across one region is restricting food, health care and access to farms and markets. The situation is even more dire for the children.
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RICARDO PIRES, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: More than 5 million children have been forced from their homes. That is the equivalent of 5,000 children displaced every single day since this conflict began. Many have been displaced not once but repeatedly, with violence following them wherever they flee.
Children continue to be killed and injured. Just this week, eight children were reportedly killed in an attack in Obeid, North Kordofan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:40:02]
HUNTE: Pope Leo is raising concerns over how frequent conflict is becoming around the globe. During his debut State of the World address, the pontiff warned that the zeal for war is spreading and emphasized the importance of upholding international law. Our Vatican correspondent, Christopher Lamb, has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a strong intervention by Pope Leo. He raised his concern about conflicts taking
place across the world, called for diplomacy based on consensus rather than force, lamenting that war seems to be back in vogue and is concerned about
the post-Second World War peace settlement potentially unraveling. This is what he had to say.
POPE LEO, CATHOLIC CHURCH: War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which
prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.
LAMB: Now Pope Leo was addressing diplomats in the Vatican ambassadors who represent their country to the Vatican. Amongst those in the audience on Friday, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and the Venezuelan ambassador.
Pope Leo emphasizing the importance of international law and countries coming together to resolve problems. Those remarks, striking a contrast
with President Donald Trump, who recently told "The New York Times" that he feels constrained simply by his own morality and was dismissive of
international law. The first U.S. pope, Pope Leo, striking something of a counterbalance to the president of the United States.
Now Leo's speech was long and wide ranging. He condemned abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia. It was a state of the world address that covered a
number of topics. He also warned against the erosion of the freedom of expression in the West, talking about the rise of Orwellian language.
Leo chose to speak during this address in English, a significant decision that he will hope ensures his words get transmitted as widely as possible.
Christopher Lamb, CNN, London.
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HUNTE: It started as a night of joy and celebration, young people partying at a bar to ring in the new year. But it ended in horror and heartbreak. Ahead, the latest on the blaze that left 40 people dead.
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HUNTE: Swiss authorities have detained one of the owners of a ski resort bar, where a New Year's Day fire killed 40 people. Prosecutors argue Jacques Moretti is a flight risk and investigators are looking into possible charges of negligent homicide.
Meanwhile, a national day of mourning was held on Friday for the victims. CNN's Christina Macfarlane has more.
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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Church bells tolling across Switzerland Friday. A moment of silence and a day of mourning for the victims of a fire at a New Year's celebration that killed 40 people and injured more than 100 others. Half of the dead were minors, the youngest just 14. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Teenagers and young people
lost their lives. They are blameless in all of this. As adults, as political leaders, the very least we can do is to apologize on behalf of the entire community.
MACFARLANE (voice-over): The fire broke out during the early hours of New Year's Day at a packed bar in the ski resort town of Crans- Montana. Officials believe it was likely caused by sparklers in champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling and quickly spread. Witnesses have described the apocalyptic scenes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Outside, the scene is worse than a nightmare. The piercing cries echo in the freezing cold. The smell of burning is unbearable. It's an apocalyptic scene.
MACFARLANE (voice-over): Questions remain about oversight. The bar had not had a safety inspection in five years, local authorities say. The owners of the bar were summoned by Swiss prosecutors on Friday and say they're cooperating fully with the investigation, offering a tearful apology to the victims and their loved ones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My constant thoughts go to the victims and those who are fighting today. This was an unthinkable tragedy and never could we have imagined this. It happened in our bar and I want to say I'm sorry.
MACFARLANE (voice-over): Meantime, a cloud of grief hangs heavy over the ski resort town. Residents and visitors alike light candles at a makeshift memorial to the victims. But for many, the questions that linger about what happened and why may never be fully answered.
EMMANUEL GULAN, FRENCH VISITOR (through translator): There's still anger behind all of this. It shouldn't have happened.
My daughters went to that bar. It was for youth. It was lively. It was inexpensive. But clearly there were some serious shortcomings.
RAFAELE RUSSOMANNO, ITALIAN VISITOR (through translator): It's awful to die at 14 or 15. Let's hope they didn't even realize what happened afterward. There are no words to explain something like that.
MACFARLANE (voice-over): Christina Macfarlane, CNN, London.
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HUNTE: We'll be right back.
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HUNTE: Welcome back. Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, has added restrictions on its image
generation tool, limiting some of its features to paying subscribers on the social media platform, X. The update comes following days of international backlash.
And if you had used X at all over the past few weeks, you would have seen how the chatbot was used to digitally undress people. And, yes, that included children.
Officials in Europe and India have slammed the changes, saying they still fail to address concerns about sexualized deepfakes.
President Trump is calling for a 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates. He said on social media that Americans are being, quote, "ripped off." Mr. Trump wants the cap to go into effect on January 20th but he didn't say how it would be implemented or whether participation would be voluntary for credit card companies.
The cost of living issue is an increasing liability for the president and this proposal is a bit of an about-face for him. Last year, he scrapped an $8 credit card fee limit that was imposed by the Biden administration.
The latest jobs report has been made public and it appears the United States ended 2025 with a slower-than-expected December and one of its weakest years of job growth in decades. The U.S. economy added an estimated 50,000 jobs last month but that was less than economists predicted. CNN's Matt Egan reports on those numbers.
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MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: The latest report confirms that the job market remains in a fragile place and that 2025 was a lousy year for job growth. It ended on a mixed note.
The good news is that the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped in December to 4.4 percent. The bad news, however, is that job growth that remains very soft, with a weaker-than-expected 50,000 jobs added last month.
And when you look at the trend, you can see how job growth has really slowed down this year. In fact, there were three months over the last seven where the economy lost jobs and, in particular, October was revised sharply lower to show the economy lost 173,000 jobs.
Of course, some of that was driven by the government shutdown. And also the fact that a lot of federal workers who took buyouts, they came off the federal payrolls. But still, this is the worst month for the job market since late 2020.
And when you zoom out and you look at the year in total, the economy added a little less than 600,000 jobs in 2025. Might sound like a lot but that's down from about 2,000,000 in 2024.
In fact, if you exclude recessions, this was the worst year of job growth for the United States since 2003, when George W. Bush was in the White House.
And when things are going well in the job market, you want to see broad-based job growth but that's just not happening. In fact, virtually all of the job gains last year came from one sector. That's private education and health services. And really, that's all health care and the demand that's being driven by America's aging demographics.
If you took this sector away, the U.S. economy would have lost jobs last year. And some of the very economically sensitive parts of the economy, they're losing jobs, including transportation and warehousing.
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Manufacturing has lost jobs eight months in a row.
And so, look, bottom line, job market, it's not imploding right now but it's clearly not firing on all cylinders. Back to you.
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HUNTE: Let's go to sports now. And the Trae Young era of Washington Wizards basketball has begun. The four-time all-star point guard was formally introduced to fans in a video at Friday's game in New Orleans.
His trade from the Atlanta Hawks was confirmed on Friday. At a news conference earlier, Young praised the D.C. franchise as a, quote, "big market," saying the trade offers him a fresh opportunity.
Trae has been sidelined since December with injuries and it's still not clear when he'll play his first game as a Washington Wizard.
The college football national championship is set after Indiana University trounced the University of Oregon in the Peach Bowl. It was an all-star performance from Hoosier quarterback, Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, who had five touchdown passes.
The Indiana defense also had three turnovers and two fourth down stops. The final score was 56-22. The Hoosiers are now just one game away from winning it all. They will face off against the University of Miami for the national championship on January 19th in Miami Gardens, Florida.
An ice hockey arena set to host some of the biggest events at next month's Winter Olympics has officially opened in Milan. Members of the public were welcomed to the Santa Giulia Arena for a test event featuring Italy's best teams.
Delays at the venue have been one of the biggest concerns ahead of the games. It seats 15,000 fans but will only host 4,000, while work still continue. Organizers say the rink is safe despite being slightly smaller than NHL standards. It is set to host the ICE hockey gold matches. OK, that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team
for this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta and I will see you tomorrow. For our viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. And for the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES." See you tomorrow.
